Global hedge fund AUM hits $1.8 trillion

After a dramatic fall during the previous 18 months from the beginning of 2008, overall assets in global hedge funds grew in the second half of 2009 by 10% to reach $1.82 trillion.

Over the full year assets registered only a modest increase after a strong performance in the second half of 2009. Net outflows continued in 2009 and impacted the final result and assets remain well under the nearly $2.7 trillion recorded in 2007.

An increasing number of hedge funds mainly in Europe are in onshore Ucits III structures. Only Ucits products that use hedge fund strategies and techniques have been included in the number. They are estimated to add $30 billion or more of assets to the total, giving a final figure of $1.85 trillion. This is slightly above the 2008 number.

The majority of the industry’s assets are managed in the US, with 213 companies running funds worth $1 billion or more. These companies account for collective assets of $1.182 trillion, up 4% from a year before.

Globally there are over 90 additional companies, mainly in Europe and Asia, running hedge funds with assets of $1 billion or more. Adding these in takes the total number of billion dollar companies to around 307 with combined assets of $1.497 trillion.

New York remains by the biggest hedge fund market centre in the world with around 118 billion dollar companies and well ahead of second place London with 55 billion dollar asset managers.

The figures refer to only single-manager hedge funds only and were gathered by HedgeFund Intelligence.

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